We were rescued from our airplane by the airscouts who had followed us,
and brought back to London. Our friends, who had thought us dead, were
overjoyed at our return. It was a wonderful reunion, with not a shadow
to mar it, for Paul had passed uninjured through the fighting and was
there to welcome us. And gradually, when she awoke, we broke the news of
everything to Esther.
The amazing thing about it was that she was much more calm in learning
the truth than we were in telling it. She accepted our statements almost
as commonplaces of history.
I call to mind the second huge public gathering on the day after the
Revolution, when the dread of massacre had proved unfounded. The
populace had been taught to believe that the Russians were blood-thirsty
savages, instead of which we discovered child-like enthusiasts. It was a
shock to most of us to discover that they considered themselves
Crusaders, upon a mission to restore Christ to the world. I recall
vividly the great red crosses on the breasts of their white uniforms,
the icon banners that are still flapping everywhere; then the people’s
wonder and terror at the horses; lastly the young Tsar’s entrance into
the capital, to attend the reconsecration of the Temple, and the amazing
influence of kingship upon a crowd that had never known reverence or
loyalty, except through fear.
Then the universal joy at the release of all the inmates of the
defectives and moron shops, the tears and shouts that accompanied the
restoration to their families, of those who had been believed lost
forever; husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters,
friends and friends. No one was afraid to be glad. It was as if a dark
cloud had rolled away and disclosed the sun.
And the astonishment and enthusiasm as the people listened to the
teachings of Christianity. After three months there are still crowds at
all the street corners, hearing the doctrines and the story of Christ
from priests and missionaries.
And Bishop Alfred: at the consecration, when, stepping forward to
declare himself, he found, to his surprise and dismay, that the secret
of his surname, which he had vowed never to reveal until that day, had
passed forever from his own memory. And how proudly he redeemed himself
with his ancient title, Alfred London.